Fabian Entrepreneurs are founders or business owners who are cautious and skeptical of change and innovation. This sounds counterintuitive to entrepreneurship because startups and new businesses are characterised by creativity and change. However, once a business identifies its sources of revenue, change is not easy. Any change comes at a cost and Fabian Entrepreneurs are afraid that these changes might cost them revenue or loss of market share.
Fabian Entrepreneurs and Fabian Entrepreneurship
This is fascinating because any entrepreneur is defined by their ability to take risks. The beauty of entrepreneurship is that it can be agile and fast-moving. The risk taking ability in entrepreneurship is high compared to established businesses. In fact, you’ll see characteristics of fabian entrepreneurship in established businesses, large corporates and old businesses. Young and new businesses however are built on the ability to change and respond quickly to the market needs
Fabian Entrepreneurs are Risk Averse
This is the first critical point about Fabian entrepreneurship. These entrepreneurs generally are cautious and risk-averse. They don’t want to make mistakes. You can see this characteristic in regulated industries that rely on compliance. Even in those industries, we can see massive disruption that reflects what people need. Although entrepreneurship is about high risk – high reward, Fabian Entrepreneurs show the opposite behaviour.
Conservative and slow to changes
This is intriguing about Fabian entrepreneurship. Normally new businesses adapt and change quickly. However, this stream of entrepreneurs is conservative and doesn’t want to change often. As a result, they will wait to see other players in the market, observe them and do a risk assessment. In short, they behave mostly as an established business or a small business that takes its time in the market
Fabian Entrepreneurship depends on Steady and stable growth
The reason why these entrepreneurs are slow and risk-averse is the nature of their market. The market and hence business depend on stable growth. Such businesses usually rely on incremental growth, dependable capital and financial risks. In a startup, we will see potential for exponential growth, this however is not a characteristic of Fabian Entrepreneurs. Hence, they usually perform careful risk management and planning.
References:
Features of Fabian Entrepreneurs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I8dsV6wq_8&ab_channel=Eduxir
Types of Entrepreneurs, Image Source : https://www.slideshare.net/PRASANTHVENPAKAL/types-of-entrepreneurs-96087034
